Saturday, January 11, 2014

Sparkle Snow Dough

Today's rainy weather is definitely putting a damper on winter fun. No sledding, no snowman building, no using skates and snowshoes. So we decided we needed to bring some winter fun inside. I'd seen several recipes for "Cloud Dough" before and heard from other moms how fun it can be, so we decided to turn it into "Sparkle Cloud Snow Dough."

There are several different versions of cloud dough online. I went with a a flour based version. We tweaked amounts based on a couple of different recipes and added in glitter for a more wintery look.

We mixed our dough in the large bin we often use for sensory play.

Sparkle Snow Dough Recipe:

6 cups flour

3/4 cup baby oil plus 2 more tablespoons

3 tablespoons silver glitter

Big Brother helped me measure the flour and glitter into the bin, and then I added the baby oil. We used our hands to mix it up. At the least minute we tried adding a little light blue food coloring, but it really didn't change the mixture enough to make it colorful.

The cool thing about this mixture is that although it looks crumbly, it can easily be pressed together to form shapes, piles, towers, and mountains. It feels super soft, and the baby oil makes it smell really good.

To start with we just played with the snow dough on its own. But then we decided to add in some animals, trees, clear marbles, and a tinfoil lake in order to create a winter play scene.

Big Brother played for quite a while creating homes for the animals, moving the trees, and creating animal tracks in the "snow."

Little Brother was eager to try the dough too, but I was worried he would accidentally ingest some of the dough. The baby oil contains mineral oil, which could make him sick. So after a quick feel of the snow dough, I instead gave him a small tupperware container of plain flour. He dumped it everywhere and loved it! He couldn't stop sliding it around, dancing in it, and giggling. A great, baby friendly, way to have some fun on this cold, rainy day!